This paper is submitted only as an example of a mental health survey and may not be plagiarized in part or whole. This paper is property of the respective authors and may not be copied or quoted in any form.

Mental Health Windshield Survey

2010 Census Data Summary:Prior to starting, research 2010 census data for the county you select http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/12000.html Include age, race, household types, growth patterns, unemployment rate, etc. Include a summary paragraph here: | The population estimate for the city of Venice for 2011 is 20897. This is an increase by .7% from 2010 which was estimated at 20748. Persons over 65 represented a whopping 57% while younger than 18 stood at 7.5% Caucasians accounted for 97.3% of the population with 93% being a high school graduate or higher. The home ownership rate is 73% with the median income being 48K. Venice city covers a mere 15.27 square miles but abounds with things do, places to eat and people to meet, most of who are retired of course. | Boundaries: Select an urban area with walking traffic/business storefronts. Attach a Google map with at least an 8 x 8 block boundary highlighted. Does the neighborhood have an identity or name? Do you see it displayed? Are there unofficial names for the area? Is the area primarily commercial, industrial or residential or a mix? | From quaint boutiques to modern department stores, the area of Venice we explored had almost everything within bike riding distance of residential neighborhoods. Neighborhoods included a mix of townhomes, a high rise retirement complex and single family homes in both deed restricted and unrestricted communities. The Venice Village shopping center along Tamiami Trail included popular stores such as Bealls, Target, Ross, and Joanne’s Fabrics. There are many banks, and a myriad of places to eat such as Subway, Panera bread, IHOP, Applebee’s, and Chili’s. | Business, Housing and Zoning: What is there general condition? Are there signs of disrepair such as: broken doors or windows, leaks, locks missing? Does the neighborhood reflect the state of the economy for this town? List businesses that display “Safe Place” signs. Provide supporting details | The mean salary in this area makes it an economically stable region. Our windshield survey was reflective of this. While the divide between the upper and middle class neighborhoods was evident, with homes being much more modest and lawns less manicured, there were very little signs of grave disrepair or junked yards etc. Although we did not encounter a “safe Place” sign on this excursion we are aware that according to Florida law, a baby up to 7 days old can be left with an employee at any hospital, emergency medical services station or with a fire fighter at any fire station in the area. | Service Centers: Do you see social agencies with clients, recreation centers, a public library and schools with signs of activity? Are there offices for doctors and dentists? Where are the nearest police and fire stations? | We actually passed one public library, one public and one private golf course, one private tennis court, a social security office, a doctor’s office, a physical therapy office, a preschool and the south campus of Sarasota County Technical Institute (SCTI) | Race/Ethnicity: Do the people you see reflect the same pattern as described in the census data? What evidence of ethnicity is represented in the stores, shops, churches, schools, etc.? Is information in a language other than English? What is this language? | The people we saw reflected the census data, in that we observed mainly Caucasian persons. We did observe several persons who appeared to be Asian and several that could have been Hispanic. There are Thai and Chinese restaurants but few other ethnically diverse businesses. We did observe several safety related signs that were posted in both English and Spanish. | Open Space: How much open space is there? What is the quality of the space, are there parks or rubble-filled lots? Are there trees, lawns, flower boxes or beds? Do you see green islands in the center of the streets? Is the open space public or private, who uses it? Is it being maintained? Is there graffiti present? | There is a generous amount of space around the structures in this neighborhood. The medians along the bordering roads are wide, grassy and have mature trees in them. The houses are not crowded and have large open lawns with mature landscaping. There are very few unused lots. The main public space is the shopping mall along US41 and the clubhouses. The shopping area is open to the general public and the clubhouses are open to residents of the community. There is a golf course that advertises to be open to the public. The space is very well maintained and there is no graffiti present. | “Commons”: What are the neighborhood hangouts (such as school yards, 24 hour convenient stores, bars, restaurants, shopping malls or parks)? For what groups and at what hours are these hangouts used? Do the commons have a sense of territoriality or is it open to a stranger? Do you feel safe there? | The neighborhood hang outs appear to be the restaurants in the strip mall along US41, there is a frozen yogurt shop as well that appears to be popular with the younger crowd after school. The smaller restaurants are mainly populated by senior citizens in the evenings, while the Panera bread had a good mix of middle aged professionals and the elderly when we visited early in the morning. The space feels very friendly and safe. | Tr T Transportation: Ho How do people get in and out of the neighborhood, cars, bus, bikes, or walking? Are the roads conducive to good transportation? Are there sidewalks? Is there a major highway near the neighborhood? Whom does it serve? How frequently is public transportation available? Would you feel safe leaving your car/bike here? Would you feel safe using public transportation? | The main form of transportation in this neighborhood is by private car or on foot. There are SCAT bus stops along the bordering roads on three sides also. The busses are frequent, the SCAT website indicates that different busses stop every 45 minutes or so. There are sidewalks and bike lanes along the bordering roads, while the residential streets have no sidewalks. This could potentially be a problem as there are so many things to do within walking distance. The roads are public and serve all residents or visitors. The neighborhood feels safe and I would have no problem leaving my car or bike or riding the bus. | Me Men Mental Health Resources: Usin Using the telephone book or YellowPages.com attach a listing for the mental health service centers in the county you selected. Go to the website for one of these centers and give a brief description of the services offered and the population served? Judge the overall adequacy and accessibility of these services to the people in your area. How do clients pay for these services? In general, how far would clients travel to use one of these centers? | Coastal Behavioral Healthcare has suites in this neighborhood for the following services: outpatient substance abuse counseling and medication management for the patient with chronic mental illness who needs medication supervision and monitoring. The address is 19501 W. Village Parkway Venice, Florida 34293. From my target neighborhood near intersection Jacaranda/Tamiami Trail, a person needing services would have to travel 4.82 miles North by Scat bus which has a stop at the Venice Villages Shoppes. The services are located on the main highway near the bus line and a dense population area. The mental health services in this county numbered thirty seven which seems fairly adequate. As far as affordability, there is some funding available for Coastal Behavioral Health from Department of Children and Families and the US Department of Health and Human Services. They do accept donations, insurance and have a sliding scale fee in some clinics. The funding is always in danger of being cut and services are endangered in certain areas. For example the home visit services for families with children with severe behavior disorders is only funded for one year and may be cut next year leaving staff wondering if more children will be turned over to foster homes and juvenile justice centers. | Using www.floridacharts.com select one indicator relating to community mental health topics and report the status of the population for the county you surveyed.Topics could include: Domestic Violence Sexual Abuse Elder Abuse Drug Use – Illegal Drug Use – Controlled Substances School Safety Alcohol Abuse Suicide WIC data Teenage Pregnancy Unwed Mothers Infants being Born to Drug Addicted MothersInclude your perception of the indicator as a member of the community. Is the actual data in support or contrast of your prior perception? Explain | The website www.floridacharts.com shows data from 2011 as the most recent data. For Sarasota County, there were 322.11 domestic violence acts documented. 3.95 deaths from alcohol related traffic accidents. 17.9 people committed suicide. The leading causes of death were cancer followed by heart disease, chronic lower respiratory diseases, and strokes. 44% of the children born were to unwed mothers. 14.9 % of the births were attributed to mothers who drank heavily. 245 births were to teen mothers. According to the Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey in Sarasota County, 11% percent of teenagers smoke and 45% had used alcohol within thirty days, 23% had smoked marijuana in that same time frame. As a member of the community, the most surprising figures were that almost half of the children born had unmarried parents and that almost fifteen percent of the births were to mothers that abused substances which can cause serious birth defects and lifelong physical and psychological problems for the child. The substance abuse problems and its societal impact is prevalent here but to a lesser extent per the Florida map than in the Panhandle where poverty is greater. | St Street People: W Who do you see on the street, people from within the community? Do you see anyone you would not expect such as a teenager, unemployed male or prostitute? Is the dress of those you see representative or unexpected? What type of animals do you see? Are they leashed or stray? | On the street, there are sidewalks with a few walkers, and bicycle riders. No one is running. Most are elderly with the average age of the county in the sixties. The people are dressed in shorts and tee shirts (Florida Casual) not workplace clothing except for two or three who may work in the plaza. The housing area in this community has very few people out in the morning. The shopping center has a few middle age shoppers but most here are senior citizens as well. I did see one middle age man in dirty clothing with an old backpack sitting in the booth at Panera bread with a magazine (but no food ordered ) and that seemed out of place. The animals are sandhill cranes and little designer dogs on leashes. I did not see any other animal types. | A Any Other Information that you may want to Include: Ss | The area is a well planned area with almost all needed services within a mile or two. One would not need a car to live here. There were two golf courses a public and private course, grocery shopping , doctors, banking , libraries, technical school campus, clothing shops etc. The communities in this area are all but those on the fringe deed restricted with well manicured lawns. The fringe area had some older homes from the seventies that were smaller with poor quality roofing and lawns in poorer repair with more decorations on the lawns. |

Community Based Nursing Care Plan | 1. Risk of: Pedestrian injuries due to motor vehicle and bicycle collisions2. Among: residents, particularly senior citizens and children in the community 3. Related to: lack of sidewalks and bike lanes in the main residential areas. | Outcome #1 50 residents will attend a community safety meeting, which will help raise awareness of problem areas and risk factors, within one month. | Outcome #2 The reported number of pedestrian injuries will decrease by 50% after one year. | Intervention #1 Survey the area for risk factors and obtain statistical reports about pedestrian injuries over the last 5 years. Assessing the risk factors present enables the nurse to plan effective interventions. | Intervention #2 Invite the residents of the community to participate in a town hall type meeting to allow them to voice their concerns and provide information about how to decrease risks associated with traveling on foot, such as wearing reflective clothing when it is late, walking on the correct side of the road and using cross walks when available. Also provide information for the residents about being aware of pedestrians while driving. These measures will help the residents avoid potential accidents. | Intervention #3 Gather community support for petitions asking Sarasota county to place additional crosswalks, signage warning that pedestrians are present, roadside tree trimming to improve visibility and improved lighting in high risk areas. Reducing areas with a high accident potential will reduce the number of injuries. | How would you evaluate? We would evaluate by conducting a mail survey of the residents to see how they feel safety has improved or decreased and monitoring injury statistics for a decrease. |

Possible Resources:

ATI Community Health Review Module Booklet

Stanhope, M. & Lancaster J. (2000). Community & Public Health Nursing (5th ed.), Mosby: St. Louis

Sparks, S. & Taylor, C. (2007). Sparks and Taylor’s Nursing Diagnosis Reference Manual. (7th ed.),
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins: New York.